Seed planters may be used to plant seeds into rows of a field. Whether towed or part of the tractor or other machine, seed planters dispense seeds at a controlled rate into one or more seed furrows or rows as the planter moves along a field. Seed planters typically have several planting or row units in a spaced-apart arrangement such that several rows can be simultaneously planted.
The planting or row units may include one or more seed hoppers that hold seeds. The seed hopper holds a seed supply that feeds a seed meter. In turn, a seed meter may control the rate at which seeds are dispensed as the seed planter traverses a field. Each planting or row unit may also include other equipment, such as a furrow opener and/or a furrow closer, or other equipment.
The seed meters may use a variety of different mechanical principles to control how seeds are dispensed, but generally all seed meters are designed to dispense seeds at a controlled rate, often one seed at a time. However, seed meters will have occasional errors, for example, “doubles” in which multiple seeds are dispensed when only one seed is intended to be dispensed, or “skips” in which no seed is dispensed when a seed is intended to be dispensed.
One particular type of seed meter is known as a vacuum seed meter. A vacuum seed meter uses a vacuum to control how seeds are taken from a seed pool and are dispensed from the meter. In one specific example, a vacuum seed meter may use a vacuum to gently pull and hold individual seeds in seed apertures defined on a seed metering member, such as, a seed disk. Vacuum is applied to the non-seed side of the disc to draw seeds into the apertures on the seed side. An alternative is to apply positive pressure on the seed side to push seeds onto the apertures. In either case, the meter operates by a pressure differential on the opposite sides of the disc. The seed metering member then rotates, and at a designated position during rotation, the seed is released from the seed disk and dispensed for planting. A vacuum seed meter may include a double eliminator configured to remove doubles at individual seed apertures of the seed disk.
Thus, vacuum level plays a critical role in determining accuracy of the vacuum seed-meter, which means elimination of doubles and skips. The required vacuum level is dependent on several parameters which include the type of seed to be sowed, the seed population and a planter operational speed. Currently, the vacuum level is changed by the operator based on experience with regard to the type of seed along with other parameters. Alternatively, the operator manually adjusts the vacuum level until the best singulation performance is achieved. This takes a substantial amount of time and leads to several skips and multiples before arriving at a vacuum level optimum for singulating seeds.